A bellows of the afore-mentioned type is known from road vehicles, rail-bound vehicles and air passenger stairs or bridges. A bellows serving as a protective element between two building parts or into a building part is also known.
In road vehicles, for example in an articulated bus, the bellows of the gangway usually encloses a platform and the articulation, whereas in rail-bound vehicles, e.g. tramways or high-speed trains, the bellows encloses a platform or a bridge as a gangway device. In particular in high-speed trains, the gangway often includes one bellow mounted within another, i.e. an outer bellows and an inner bellows.
Rail vehicles, such as the TGV, are known to have individual carriages mounted on so-called Jacobs bogies in the area of the gangway. It is also known that bellows may be worn out relatively quickly depending on the material used. Because the carriages are mounted on Jacobs bogies in the TGV, separating the carriages for replacing the bellows can only be done with considerable effort. On the other hand, the gangway between two carriages is not directly connected to the carriages, but is connected to the respective carriage by a tunnel-like passage. The bellows to be replaced have a tunnel-like passage or tunnel-like intermediate space with a smaller cross-section than the bellows. This means that a replacement of the bellows can only take place if the carriages, between which the bellows to be replaced are located, are actually taken down from the Jacobs bogie.
Also, there are bellows of gangways between rail vehicles, which are very big, for example bellows of gangways of double-decker carriages.
The bellows of air passenger bridges or stairs are often more than three meters in height and very broad. Transporting such bellows is thus complicated. The same is true with regard to bellows between two building parts or into a building part.